Praxiteles, the artist, received a commission from Kos to create a statue of the goddess Aphrodite. He made two versions of the statue, one fully draped and another nude. Kos didn’t want the nude one as they found it offensive and so they paid him for the draped version. Then the citizens of Knidos purchased the nude one and placed it in a temple permitting everyone to view the statue at every angle. It became a huge tourist attraction because the people loved seeing their goddess ‘proudly nude’. I think this is the very reason Knidos preferred the nude figure to begin with.
